How to drive more leads with effective call-to-actions

How to drive more leads with effective call-to-actions

When you start writing a new piece of content, whether it’s a blog article or an eBook, you write it as a response to your readers’ questions and you put yourself in their shoes. So why not do exactly the same thing when creating a new call-to-action (CTA) button? Think about how a CTA button will help your readers take the next step to learn more about your company and continue their journey as a buyer. Research shows that CTAs with a strong, personalized message can increase your conversion rates by over 202%.

Do you know what the CTA button is all about?

Before diving into the best practices to use CTA buttons and convert more of your website visitors into leads and later on into new customers, let’s start with understanding exactly what CTA is all about.

Hubspot defines CTA as:

an image or line of text that prompts your visitors, leads, and customers to take action.

The digital marketing guru, Neil Patel, describes the CTA button as

the bridge between the content your visitor is already interested in and an offer of higher value.

Taking everything into account, it means that the CTA button is, quite literally, a "call" to take an "action", whether it’s about downloading an eBook or signing up for a webinar or getting free templates. Based on our experience, we recommend using action words to prompt an immediate response or encourage an immediate reaction.

Find the right action word for your CTA button!

You should be aware that not all verbs have the desired effect when it comes to conversion rates. For example, statistics show that although the word “Submit” is one of the most common CTA buttons, it can actually decrease your conversion rate by almost 3%!

Best practice would be to try shaking things up with unique and action-oriented words and the results will appear shortly. For instance, by changing your CTA to “Click here!”, your conversion rate can increase by 30%! There is no fixed formula to create a standard successful CTA button for everyone because every client’s business needs are unique and the message of the CTA button should be personalized to address those specific needs.

Tailor your CTA button for each audience!

Message is not everything though. You should also consider the stage of the buyer’s journey where your readers are at and create specific CTA buttons for each lifecycle stage accordingly.

For example, you could have:

For a visitor who is engaging with your website for the first time - use a CTA button to a submission form to learn more about your products and business in an eBook or to download a whitepaper that describes common challenges in your industry;

For a prospect lead - use a CTA button to start a free trial of using your products and services;

For an existent customer - use a CTA button to download a guide that explains how they could benefit from your additional services by upgrading their base plan.

By using the so-called smart CTAs, you will show different CTAs to people engaging with your website based on where they are in the buyer’s journey. This is a smart move because by changing the CTA button, you are able to increase conversions throughout the entire funnel, not only part of it: visitors become leads, leads become MQLs and customers become promoters.

Add your CTA button in the right place on your website!

Did you know that the location of your CTA button matters greatly for the conversion rates? The most effective CTA button spots seem to be the ones present in welcome gates, which lead to a 10 – 25% increase in conversion rates!

Other compelling CTA button locations are:

Feature box: 3 – 9%

Pop-ups: 1 – 8%

Sliders and bars: 1 – 5%

Sidebar and Generic, end-of-post: 0.5 – 1.5%

Keep your CTA button design simple!

With all the information available on the internet, it is only natural for your readers to have a short attention span. So the best thing to do is to have a clear, simple but eye-catching design for your CTA button. Research shows that by removing the clutter around the CTA button, you can see a 232% increase in conversions!

Final Thoughts

The CTA button is often described as the “makes it or breaks it” element of your content marketing strategy as it can have a significant impact on the level of engagement your website visitors will have with your business. If you would like to read more on how to write effective CTAs or if you have any other questions, just get in touch with us and our dedicated marketing experts will be happy to help.